First kit... fizzy?

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Charbucks

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I decided to make wine on a whim, and picked up what is probably a pretty low-quality wine kit on the recommendation of the guy in the shop:Vintners Reserve Valpolicella (a "28-day" kit). On July 15th, I carefully followed the instructions on the box, although I did aerate in the primary for a bit with an aquarium pump because that's what I would have done with beer and I figured all yeast likes oxygen (potentially a mistake). OG was 1.072.

On July 24th, gravity was at 0.990 and had been there for a few days. I racked to secondary. On July 26th, I went to the Yukon for three weeks, figuring it would be fine with a little extra time (instructions say 14 days before adding stabilizer).

After getting back from vacation, I added the stabilizer that came with the kit (K-C), and tried to stir everything as vigorously as possible. After topping up with water (as per the instructions) my gravity was at about 0.992. I waited the requisite 10 days, gave it an extra few out of laziness, and bottled on September 2nd.

Obviously one week is much too short a time, but one of the bottles had a cork that didn't go all the way in so I figured I'd put that one out of its misery. To my surprise, I opened it and it was slightly fizzy. There's been NO sign of fizz or activity in the fermentation lock for the past month, and I find it hard to believe that it can ferment down below 0.990. It's very dry and thin tasting (not to mention kind of sour and young), but it's the fizziness that concerns me.

Is this going to improve, or get worse with time? Anything I can do?
 
Charbucks said:
I decided to make wine on a whim, and picked up what is probably a pretty low-quality wine kit on the recommendation of the guy in the shop:Vintners Reserve Valpolicella (a "28-day" kit). On July 15th, I carefully followed the instructions on the box, although I did aerate in the primary for a bit with an aquarium pump because that's what I would have done with beer and I figured all yeast likes oxygen (potentially a mistake). OG was 1.072.

On July 24th, gravity was at 0.990 and had been there for a few days. I racked to secondary. On July 26th, I went to the Yukon for three weeks, figuring it would be fine with a little extra time (instructions say 14 days before adding stabilizer).

After getting back from vacation, I added the stabilizer that came with the kit (K-C), and tried to stir everything as vigorously as possible. After topping up with water (as per the instructions) my gravity was at about 0.992. I waited the requisite 10 days, gave it an extra few out of laziness, and bottled on September 2nd.

Obviously one week is much too short a time, but one of the bottles had a cork that didn't go all the way in so I figured I'd put that one out of its misery. To my surprise, I opened it and it was slightly fizzy. There's been NO sign of fizz or activity in the fermentation lock for the past month, and I find it hard to believe that it can ferment down below 0.990. It's very dry and thin tasting (not to mention kind of sour and young), but it's the fizziness that concerns me.

Is this going to improve, or get worse with time? Anything I can do?
Click to expand...

My guess is that when the instructions told you do degas, and you stirred vigorously, that you didn't really degas as much as you should have. Those kit wines are rushed to bottle, and so instruct you to degas thoroughly. Some people even use mity-vacs (brake bleeders) to degas. I have a wine whip that I put on my drill, as to knock out all of the excess co2 before bottling.

It probably won't get worse, since it's been done fermenting for a long time. You can either live with it, and simply decant all of the wines a while before serving, or try to pour it back into a fermenter and degas again. If you choose to degas again, make sure you use campden tablets (potassium metabisulfite) immediately afterwards so you don't oxidize the wine in the process.

If it were me, I'd simply plan on decanting that wine before drinking and allowing it to sit for about 45 minutes before drinking. If you want to give it for gifts, you could also provide those instructions.

For your next kit, make sure you degas like it's your job! And it'll be just fine.
 
Thanks for the reply! Glad to hear it's not *entirely* ruined - I think decanting before drinking is a much easier solution than rebottling. I'll just chalk this one up to "experience" and hopefully manage to degas better next time.
 
Charbucks said:
Thanks for the reply! Glad to hear it's not *entirely* ruined - I think decanting before drinking is a much easier solution than rebottling. I'll just chalk this one up to "experience" and hopefully manage to degas better next time.
Click to expand...

Nah, it's not ruined, it's just "fizzy" which makes it taste harsh due to the carbonic acid from the carbonation. Decanting will correct that, and it's pretty besides!

Keep an eye to make sure the corks aren't pushing out, but otherwise it'll be just fine.
 
Early in my winemaking career I too bottled a wine that wasn't fully degassed. Yooper is correct about decanting but it really takes a lot of decanting - like maybe an hour or more. What I did was pour the wine in a clean quart beer bottle and shook the crap out of it. That did the trick.
 
I too, did not degas enough on my first wine and it turned out fizzy.
It has been corked for over a year now and the fizzyness is all but gone.
 
do you always need to degas? it doesn't say anything on my instuctions? when should i de gas
 
I plan to go maybe 4-5 months before I bottle my Gewurtztraminer. Would I need to be degassing that?

And what is the process? Whip it like you said and then add sulfites? The sulfites will remove all of that new oxygen? Won't the sulfites hang out in the corked bottle or do you have to wait weeks after degassing to bottle?
 
dontman said:
I plan to go maybe 4-5 months before I bottle my Gewurtztraminer. Would I need to be degassing that?

And what is the process? Whip it like you said and then add sulfites? The sulfites will remove all of that new oxygen? Won't the sulfites hang out in the corked bottle or do you have to wait weeks after degassing to bottle?
Click to expand...

If you leave it in the carboy for a few months, you may not need to degas. You degas before you add the clarifing agents- but if you give it enough time you may not even need to use the clarifyers. What I do is get all the way to the bottling stage, following the instructions, but leave it in the carboy insteaad of going to the bottle. By then, it's been degassed and topped up so it's fine in the carboy for a while.

The directions will tell you when to degas, and how to do it. Trust me, though, that when they say "vigorous stirring", that is a gross understatement. I bought a wine whip that fits into my drill, and I start slow and then speed up as the gas comes out. You have to watch for wine volcanoes at first, though. After you degas, you add the stabilizers and the clarifiers, top up to the bung and let it sit about 2-4 weeks before bottling.
 
Cool thanks.

So the whip fits through the neck of the carboy I assume, yes?

My kit is not really a kit at all. I bought the Brehm Frozen Grapes. There are instructions but they are more like: Rack and sulfite. Meaning they assume a lot of wine making knowledge.
 
Thanks for the pic. Someone should tell them to take a better one though. I could barely see it.
 
Alright, 2 weeks later (3 weeks after bottling) I cracked another bottle just for fun, and the fizziness is *significantly* reduced. It also tastes much better :)

Either way, my next batch is going to get a serious degassing, but it's nice to know that the whole thing isn't ruined.
 

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